Long-Term Care Planning in Arizona
Pay for care with money you already have.
A newer kind of long-term care coverage: approval that is not based on traditional medical underwriting, benefits paid monthly without receipts, and your money stays yours if you never need care. Compare it with traditional and hybrid coverage in one free review.
- Serving Arizona since 1995
- 45,000+ families
- Licensed insurance agents
- Scottsdale and Tucson
of people turning 65 will need some form of long-term care
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
a month for nursing home care in Arizona, and climbing
Arizona average, RJP client experience
is how long care lasts on average once it starts
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
Medicare pays for almost none of it. Most families find that out one month at a time.
A thirty-second gut check
How long would your savings last?
Slide to what you have set aside, pick the kind of care, and see how many months it buys. Just the bill, no product math.
Typical Arizona and national figures. They change by city and level of care, and your own numbers go in the review.
Kind of care
Your savings would cover
39 months3.3 years
About 3 months beyond an average stay. Every one of those months still spends down what you planned to leave behind. Coverage turns that drawdown into a monthly benefit instead.
One minute. No contact details until you ask.
Three questions, one minute · Question 1 of 3
How old are you?
Most asset-based designs issue from 50 to 80, so this comes first.
Four ways families pay for care
Three are plans. One is what happens by default.
Every family lands in one of these columns. The review puts your numbers in all four so the trade-offs are plain before you decide anything.
| What matters | Traditional LTC insurance | Hybrid life and LTC | Asset-based LTCThe newer option | Self-funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical underwriting | Full exam and records | Full underwriting | Not traditional underwriting. Health sets the benefit tier | None |
| If you never need care | Premiums are gone | Death benefit to family | Account stays yours, can grow | Money stays yours |
| Can the cost rise later? | Premiums can increase | Usually fixed | No premiums to raise | Care costs rise every year |
| Funded with | Ongoing premiums | Large premium or installments | Money you already have: savings, CDs, an old annuity or policy | Savings, then home equity |
| How benefits pay | Reimburses receipts | Often reimbursement | Monthly cash, no receipts, family care allowed | You pay every bill |
| Leverage on your money | High per premium dollar | Moderate | Benefit base commonly 2 to 3 times the premium | None |
| Tax treatment of benefits | Generally income tax free | Generally income tax free | Generally income tax free | Paid with after-tax money |
Traditional LTC insurance
- Medical underwriting: Full exam and records
- If you never need care: Premiums are gone
- Can the cost rise later?: Premiums can increase
- Funded with: Ongoing premiums
- How benefits pay: Reimburses receipts
- Leverage on your money: High per premium dollar
- Tax treatment of benefits: Generally income tax free
Hybrid life and LTC
- Medical underwriting: Full underwriting
- If you never need care: Death benefit to family
- Can the cost rise later?: Usually fixed
- Funded with: Large premium or installments
- How benefits pay: Often reimbursement
- Leverage on your money: Moderate
- Tax treatment of benefits: Generally income tax free
Asset-based LTC
The newer option
- Medical underwriting: Not traditional underwriting. Health sets the benefit tier
- If you never need care: Account stays yours, can grow
- Can the cost rise later?: No premiums to raise
- Funded with: Money you already have: savings, CDs, an old annuity or policy
- How benefits pay: Monthly cash, no receipts, family care allowed
- Leverage on your money: Benefit base commonly 2 to 3 times the premium
- Tax treatment of benefits: Generally income tax free
Self-funding
- Medical underwriting: None
- If you never need care: Money stays yours
- Can the cost rise later?: Care costs rise every year
- Funded with: Savings, then home equity
- How benefits pay: You pay every bill
- Leverage on your money: None
- Tax treatment of benefits: Paid with after-tax money
Simplified for comparison. Features, benefit tiers, fees and vesting vary by product, carrier and state. The leverage shown for asset-based coverage depends on age and underwriting class and is not a guarantee.
The asset-based option, explained
Think of it as your own money with a care benefit bolted on.
Here is the whole idea in four steps. The product behind it is a fixed index annuity with a long-term care rider, which is why approval works differently from traditional insurance.
- Step 1
You move money you already have into it
Savings, a CD, a money market account, or an older annuity or life policy that is not doing much. Contracts generally start at $50,000, one owner per contract.
- Step 2
The insurer sets a larger benefit base for care
Depending on your age and underwriting class, the base for care commonly starts at two to three times what you put in, then grows at a guaranteed rate every year until you need it.
- Step 3
If you need care, it pays you monthly
Once a doctor confirms you need help with everyday activities, or there is a cognitive diagnosis, the benefit arrives monthly for a set period. No receipts. You choose the care, including care from family. Benefits are generally income tax free.
- Step 4
If you never need care, the money stays yours
The account keeps growing with an index, you can take a portion out each year, and whatever is left goes to your beneficiaries. No use-it-or-lose-it.
A hypothetical example
Meet Linda, 62, Mesa.
Widowed, two grown kids, a paid-off house, and about $400,000 across a CD, a money market and an old annuity she bought in 2011. Her mother spent six years in a care home. She does not want that bill landing on her kids.
- 1
She moves the old annuity
About $100,000 is exchanged into asset-based coverage with no tax bill on the move. The rest of her savings stays where it is.
- 2
A care benefit base is set
At her age and class it commonly lands at two to three times the premium and grows each year. Her account value still earns index credits.
- 3
Two outcomes, both hers
Need care at 75: a monthly benefit, generally tax free, for a set period. Never need care: the account passes to her kids.
Hypothetical, for illustration only. Not an actual client, product or illustration. Benefit bases, growth rates, vesting, fees and surrender charges depend on the product, your age, your underwriting class and your state. A licensed agent provides a product-specific illustration in the review.
Straight talk
It is not for everyone. Here is who it tends to fit.
A good fit, usually
Savers between 50 and 80 with $50,000 or more set aside that is not earmarked for the next few years.
People who were told no before by a traditional long-term care or life insurer. Health sets the tier here, not approval.
Anyone holding an old annuity or life policy that could be exchanged into coverage that pays for care, without a tax bill on the move.
Families who watched a parent spend it all and want the next generation to get a different ending.
Probably not the move
Money you will need within a few years. These contracts carry surrender charges early on and are built to be left alone.
Under 50, or over 80. Traditional or hybrid coverage fits the younger group better today; other strategies apply past 80.
Retirement-account money as the only source. It can work with an extra step, and an agent will say so plainly if a hybrid policy fits better.
A very large estate that can self-insure comfortably. Some families are better off keeping the money liquid. The review will tell you if you are one of them.
If the honest answer is that something else fits you better, that is what you will hear. That is the whole point of a review.
Who you will talk to
Licensed agents who do this every week
The review happens with the people below. Each one holds the Arizona insurance license behind every option they show you, and several carry the securities registrations to look at the whole picture.
Chris Cohan
CEO | ChFC®, RMA®
ChFC® · RMA® · Series 6, 63, 65 · AZ Life & Health
With over 25 years in financial services and deep Arizona roots, Chris takes a steady, thoughtful approach to wealth and estate planning. As a Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) and Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®), he helps individuals and families build, protect, and transfer wealth through personalized strategies.
View ProfileStephen Levin
Tucson Director of Risk Management | Senior Planning Consultant | Licensed Insurance Agent
Series 65 · Licensed Insurance Agent
Stephen brings a background in risk management to his role at RJP, where he helps Tucson-area families protect what they've worked so hard to build. Before transitioning into estate and insurance planning, he spent years in risk-management leadership, learning how to spot vulnerabilities and build strategies that hold up when it matters most.
View ProfileChris Zajdzinski
Wealth Management Advisor, Fiduciary | Licensed Insurance Agent
CLU · Series 6, 63, 65 · Fiduciary · AZ Life & Health
With more than 30 years of experience in financial services, Chris is dedicated to helping individuals and families make informed, confident decisions about their financial future. As a Wealth Management Advisor and Fiduciary, he works closely with clients to understand their concerns and offers guidance tailored to their unique needs and priorities. His experience includes retirement income planning, risk management, and estate and legacy planning.
View ProfileRon Tallou
Wealth Management Advisor, Fiduciary
Series 6, 63, 65 · Licensed Insurance Agent
Born and raised in Michigan, Ron developed a strong work ethic and deep appreciation for community values early in life. These formative experiences ignited a lifelong passion for wealth management, ultimately shaping his career in finance.
View ProfileThomas Fryar
Senior Planning Consultant | Licensed Insurance Agent
Licensed Insurance Agent
As a financial services professional since 1978, Thomas has developed risk-managed retirement income and estate-transfer strategies that help clients protect lifetime cash flow, provide for surviving spouses or special-needs family members, and pass wealth efficiently across generations. His four decades in life insurance and planning inform a disciplined, education-driven approach to protecting family assets.
View ProfileDimitri Redwood
Wealth Management Advisor, Fiduciary | Licensed Insurance Agent
Series 7 · Series 6 · Series 63 · Series 65 · Fiduciary · Licensed Insurance Agent
Dimitri works with Tucson-area families on the financial side of estate planning, helping clients think through how to protect what they've built and pass it on the way they want. With six years of experience as an advisor, including time at an investment firm, he brings a practical perspective to every conversation. He takes time to listen first, then walks each family through their options in plain language so they can make decisions with confidence.
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